Social networking has been part of the internet ever since it's creation. Originally, many forums, sites and in some cases, dial-up bulletin board services begin to slowly bring people with similar interests together. As the power of computers and the speed of the internet increased, social networking sites were created to bring even more people together in a single place. The first website to accomplish this was Myspace. Myspace brought millions of people together on the same website. Each user could look for their own friends, journey into Myspace's forums and chat room to meet other people and begin networking and collaborating with people all over the world.
As time went on, Myspace began to lose its appeal for various reasons. Facebook was a fledgling social networking site which was primarily focused toward college students. Originally, in order to sign up for Facebook, a user had to have an active college/university e-mail account which was verified by Facebook's servers. Once the owners of Facebook's saw the waning interest in Myspace, they decided to open their site to the general public. Facebook's security features, clean interface and ease of use caused many users to migrate from Myspace to Facebook.
Facebook has grown to over 500 million users in approximately 6 years. [1] With the inclusion of Facebook IM, games, forums, photo and video sharing, Facebook's users, depending the owner's security settings, can view each others photos and videos and walls, which are a type of personal message board, and leave comments for both the owner and the world to see. Private messages can be sent to other users and members of groups which users have chosen to join.
Even with the incredible capability to interact and collaborate with people from all over the world, many social networking sites are not safe for use within educational institutions. Even when using the most conservative security settings available, students would still be able to communicate with any other user on the site. This poses a huge security risk and can easily expose the students to information and people which could have a negative effect on their lives.
In order to give the students and teachers of PA a secure version of Facebook, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education and PAIUnet have created Keystone Commons. Keystone Commons gives teachers and students across the state the ability to use tools similar to Twitter, Edublogs, Diigo, Wikispaces, and Facebook in a secured setting which ensures student safety and CIPA compliance while online. The site allows teachers to upload various files, create and organize group projects and gives the students the tools to complete their assignments. It is truly an all-in-one solution which educators in Pennsylvania should be taking advantage of as soon as possible.
Social Networking
Social networking has been part of the internet ever since it's creation. Originally, many forums, sites and in some cases, dial-up bulletin board services begin to slowly bring people with similar interests together. As the power of computers and the speed of the internet increased, social networking sites were created to bring even more people together in a single place. The first website to accomplish this was Myspace. Myspace brought millions of people together on the same website. Each user could look for their own friends, journey into Myspace's forums and chat room to meet other people and begin networking and collaborating with people all over the world.
As time went on, Myspace began to lose its appeal for various reasons. Facebook was a fledgling social networking site which was primarily focused toward college students. Originally, in order to sign up for Facebook, a user had to have an active college/university e-mail account which was verified by Facebook's servers. Once the owners of Facebook's saw the waning interest in Myspace, they decided to open their site to the general public. Facebook's security features, clean interface and ease of use caused many users to migrate from Myspace to Facebook.
Facebook has grown to over 500 million users in approximately 6 years. [1] With the inclusion of Facebook IM, games, forums, photo and video sharing, Facebook's users, depending the owner's security settings, can view each others photos and videos and walls, which are a type of personal message board, and leave comments for both the owner and the world to see. Private messages can be sent to other users and members of groups which users have chosen to join.
Even with the incredible capability to interact and collaborate with people from all over the world, many social networking sites are not safe for use within educational institutions. Even when using the most conservative security settings available, students would still be able to communicate with any other user on the site. This poses a huge security risk and can easily expose the students to information and people which could have a negative effect on their lives.
In order to give the students and teachers of PA a secure version of Facebook, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education and PAIUnet have created Keystone Commons. Keystone Commons gives teachers and students across the state the ability to use tools similar to Twitter, Edublogs, Diigo, Wikispaces, and Facebook in a secured setting which ensures student safety and CIPA compliance while online. The site allows teachers to upload various files, create and organize group projects and gives the students the tools to complete their assignments. It is truly an all-in-one solution which educators in Pennsylvania should be taking advantage of as soon as possible.
[1] - https://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics